That seems like a pretty dumb question! But I don’t mean “how do you learn how to speak Welsh?” – that’s easy: You follow a course of some kind. But how do you go from learning Welsh, to being a Welsh Speaker?
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Anyone who tries to learn another language as an adult deserves a huge amount of respect. I’ve learnt quite a bit of French over the years, but it has taken 20-odd years for me to be able to get any real conversation going. But during that 20-odd years, I’ve learnt a whole load of ways to slow my learning down, and a handful of ways to actually succeed.
Let’s start with a real basic answer, one which huge numbers of people miss:
You have to use your Welsh to speak to people.
Most Welsh (or French) learners will have found themselves in a situation where they are able to use some of their new language. The mouth goes dry, the heart starts beating far too fast, and if you manage to say something, it sounds totally wrong. If you are “lucky”, your victim replies in English, says well done, and you get the warm feeling of having got away with it.
I spent years being “lucky” like this, but every now and then, I’d get a reply in French. Mostly, I would fold at this point, but once in a while I’d be brave, and soldier on to use a few grammatically nonsensical sentences (that I would replay to myself over the coming hours becoming more and more embarrassed by how bad it was) before throwing in the towel, or occasionally getting what I wanted and getting out of there.
Each time this happened, I would decide that I needed to learn“a tiny bit more” before trying my French again. I would sit down with my (safe) grammar books, and practice (safer) writing and reading, and dream that I would soon be “fluent”, and able to face a full conversation.
The only problem with this is that I do all that extra work – months, maybe years of it – I go and speak to someone and guess what? The mouth dries, the heart beats, and the bit of French that dribbles out of your mouth sounds just as bad!
If you are already months or years into this process with Welsh, then stop now! Don’t deceive yourself any longer. It took me a long time to realise it, but the truth is, the first time you thought you were ready for conversation, you were! You just needed to try it once more.
I found that there is a great side-effect to the embarrassed repetition of everything that you said (or should have said) in the aftermath of a first conversation: You actually learn, or at least recall, a whole lot of new language that if you put into effect soon, you will never forget. Embarrassment is a great teacher!
If you got a reply in Welsh, (even if you didn’t understand it all) then you got another lesson far more important than anything you’ve learnt in class – real natural spoken Welsh.
So, try approaching the experience with a little more science, and you will get far more out of it. Here are the ground rules that I learnt:
1) Have a few stock greetings phrases. Most people will learn them as the first part of their course. They are all over the internet. Make sure that you can say “hallo, how are you, I’m fine, goodbye”. That was a conversation. Congratulations!
2) Be realistic. If you are not used to talking Welsh (or French!) at normal conversational speed, then you will be quickly out of your depth. This is not a failure, this is practice! The more times you “fail” like this, the quicker you will become comfortable with your new language.
3) Know where you are with your Welsh. If you are out of your depth, then it’s a good idea to be able to say “OK, let’s talk English now”. But if you have more to give, refuse to turn to English even if your victim does. People will turn to English for all kinds of reasons – to help you, to avoid potential embarrasment (theirs or yours) or say something they don’t think you’ll understand in Welsh – but you will get far more practice if you refuse to give in until you are ready.
4) Little and often is always best. Remember that if you are really hesitant, it will be frustrating for both the listener and for you. Keep your conversations short but have them often. They will be far more enjoyable, and you will quickly become more confident.
5) Congratulate yourself. At the end of the conversation, thank the person who’s been talking to you, and walk away. You may not want to let them see you jump in the air with your fist clenched, shouting “Yes, Yes, Yes! I did it.” But make sure that you do congratulate yourself. There is no bad conversation; no conversation is “too short” or “not complicated enough”. Your aim is to use your Welsh to communicate, and that is what you have just done.
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If you are a SaySomethinginWelsh learner, you will find lesson 6b, the introductory course bonus lesson, gives you a big advantage, by showing you how to confidently start, continue and finish a conversation in real life. Knowing that you are in control will make a huge difference to how stressful the whole conversation experience is.
And please remember – we Welsh speakers are human too. We’re probably as worried about “making a mistake” and misleading you in your Welsh as you are of making a mistake and “showing yourself up”. So just get out there and do it!
Oh yes, and let us know how it goes. “Welsh encounters of the nervous kind” is a section of the support forum especially dedicated to stories of bravery and embarrassment, character enhancing experiences and outright total successes. Whatever yours is, we’d like to know!
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